Re: [Vic] Metcard - What could be done.

["Dave Proctor" <daproc@spambait.ozemail.com.au>]

"Anthony Morton" <amorton@mullian.ee.mu.oz.au> wrote in message
news:8i7p77$j55$1@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU...
>
> >"Eddie Oliver" <eoliver@efs.mq.edu.au> wrote

> Dave Proctor <daproc@spambait.ozemail.com.au> wrote:
>
> >Who knows. The systems are the same (if you count a tram the same as a
bus,
> >and for all intents and purposes it is in terms of requirements to
> >validate),
>
> ....except that the tram driver hasn't a clue who has or hasn't got a
ticket,
> unlike a bus driver who sees everyone's ticket when they board.  If there
were
> a conductor on the tram it might make more sense, but then the conductor
could
> sight the tickets her/himself rather than relying on a machine to do it.

But then community attitudes come into it. In Adelaide (like everywhere else
in Australia) police get free travel to and from work. In Adelaide, police
were being abused because they were seen boarding and not validating. This
applied to both police travelling to and from work and police who were
following people. Police were thus issued with tickets that would be
accepted by the validators, which they could validate when travelling to and
from work and thus be seen to be doing the right thing.

One of the major difficulties in this country is that fare evasion is seen
as a victimless crime. Well it isn't. Fare evasion impacts upon the whole
community, by way of either fares being higher than they should be, or
revenues being lower than what they should be.

Perhaps if there was a better community enforcement (which I have seen in
Adelaide - a little od lady going up to someone and telling them to validate
their ticket) then there would not be the probelms we are seeing in
Melbourne.

> >Perhaps it is a Jeff thing - because it was introduced by Jeff, people
don't
> >like it.
>
> Actually, I don't blame Jeff for this one.  Like the scratch tickets
before
> it, Metcard was the brainchild of PTC bureaucrats who wouldn't use public
> transport if their lives depended on it.

Politicians are ultimately responsible for what their bureaucrats do. That
is the Westminster principle.

> >Perhaps to encourage people to prebuy (which was the whole point of not
> >having dailies on board the trams) is to introduce a small discount if
> >purchased from agencies. This will act as an encouragement to prepurchase
> >without onerously penalising those who either cannot do so or don't wish
to
> >do so. Those who cannot or will not prepay can still get their tickets on
> >board.
>
> Why should people be encouraged to prepurchase?  Either you're a regular
> public transport user, in which case you buy periodical tickets and might
as
> well buy them from a train station as anywhere else, or you're an
occasional
> user and as likely as not haven't planned your trip in advance.  Motorists
> aren't expected to plan in advance when they're going to drive their car;

Aren't they? I, as someone who does not regularly travel via the new toll
roads, decide to travel via them. How do I pay the toll? I have not
purchased whatever device is necssary to pay the toll. If I wish to travel
via these roads, I am required to plan it in advance and go through the
rigamarole required to get through the toll plazas.

> people are more likely to be attracted to public transport if they know
they
> can just jump on a train or tram or bus, pay a fare and travel.

And those who travel somewhat frequently are more likely to prepay (thereby
reducing the security risks os people paying on trams) if the tickets are
slightly cheaper if they pre-purchase.

> The idea that there's somehow something wrong with buying a ticket on
board
> a tram or bus is another of these mysterious notions that defies reality,
like
> the idea that poking a ticket into a machine when no-one's watching will
> combat fare evasion.

Who says there is anything wrong with buying a ticket on board? AFAICS it is
purely from a security aspect that buying on board is not desirable.
Prebuying gets around this.

> >I think a lot of the difficulties that people have with Metcard is
related
> >to unwillingness to change.
>
> Not at all.  It's just the natural reaction people have when a perfectly
> workable and friendly system is replaced with something inferior.

And the new system is perfectly workable and friendly. It is the
unwillingness to change that makes it inferior to some

> >The place I normally stay at in Elsternwick has a large number of umpires
> >staying there, about 8 from Sydney and another 15 or so from around the
> >world - United States, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakie,
Austria,
> >United Kingdom and Sweden was our make-up for 2000.
> >
> >Not one of these people complained, all validated their tickets on
boarding
> >the trams, not one ticket stuffed up, all were using weeklies. If people
> >from this makeup of countries, from around the world, of all ages (most
of
> >them not being rail enthusiasts, although there were two, one from Sweden
> >and one from the Czech Republic) can cope with the system, then anyone
can.
> >Which is why I think it is an unwillingness to change which is the main
> >reason for all of the criticisms.
>
> Actually, in the Czech Republic it's not even necessary to revalidate a
> ticket when boarding a bus.  The buses work like trams in that you can
board
> by any door.  In Prague, as in Vienna and many other places, you stamp
your
> ticket once the first time you use it and never have to pull it out again
> except on request.
>
> People travelling overseas generally have a greater tolerance for the
local
> idiosyncracies than the locals themselves.  Putting up with a silly system
is
> OK for a few weeks in a foreign country, but it's different when you have
to
> live with it every day of your life.

But they still have to use it. I have grumbled whilst overseas about the
fare systems in use in some cities. People are not willing to sit back and
say it works just because they are a visitor. It either works or it doesn't.
So far, the only people who have been willing to say it doesn't work are
Melburnians, and this appears to me (and to others) to be some sort of
revolt against a change to what they have grown used to.

Dave